INDIANA: GUARDS: The Pacers went 7-2 during the regular season and won a playoff series with GEORGE HILL in the starting five. He averaged 13.9 PPG and 5.3 APG in those regular season starts . . . PAUL GEORGE is a defensive stopper who is making strides on the offensive end. If he can find the touches, his scoring average will rise . . . D.J. AUGUSTIN has a skill set similar to Hill's. Maybe he'll push him for minutes later in the year, but more likely he'll shoot corner threes off the bench . . . GERALD GREEN is another athlete for their second unit . . . LANCE STEPHENSON has a chance for a bigger role, but he's been atrocious to this point of his career. FORWARDS: DANNY GRANGER's touches dropped last season, but his shot selection improved as last year went on. He'll continue to be a borderline All-Star . . . DAVID WEST's knee should be fully recovered from his torn ACL in late 2010-11. He was their best player in the postseason and should be a star this season with his ability to knock down shots . . . TYLER HANSBROUGH looks like he's settling in as a career second unit player. His lack of athleticism really limits his upside . . . JEFF PENDERGRAPH may or may not hold on to a roster spot in a 12th-man role. CENTERS: They're paying ROY HIBBERT like a franchise player, and he has the ability to control both ends of the court. The question is whether they'll now play him 30-plus minutes, or continue to use him as more of a part-time player . . . IAN MAHINMI should step in as a decent backup center . . . Rookie MILES PLUMLEE was a part-time player at Duke and is highly unlikely to contribute in his first season.

DALLAS: GUARDS: DARREN COLLISON's jump shot might be shaky, but he can get into the lane at will. He'll be a much different look than Jason Kidd had been in Big D . . . O.J. MAYO becomes the second option in this offense. He'll have the ball in his hands a lot . . . VINCE CARTER will come off the bench. At this point, he's a three-point specialist, and not a very good one . . . DELONTE WEST will back up both guard spots. Don't be surprised if he overtakes Collison at some point . . . RODDY BEAUBOIS can heat up in an instant, but he has work to do to make this rotation . . . DAHNTAY JONES is roster filler . . . DOMINIQUE JONES enters the year on the roster bubble . . . JARED CUNNINGHAM will learn the point guard position watching from the bench as a rookie. FORWARDS: After a slow start last season, DIRK NOWITZKI looked like the Dirk of old in the second half of the year. He's still got something left in the tank, but it's still unclear if the swelling in his knee will require surgery, something that would shelve him for more than a month . . . SHAWN MARION is still an important cog in Carlisle's creative defensive gameplans, so he'll keep playing big minutes despite his dwindling offensive skills . . . ELTON BRAND is still relevant, even behind Nowitzki, because of his ability to play some center . . . BRANDAN WRIGHT will be in and out of the rotation again, but he's now relatively healthy and showed signs of being a serviceable rotation player a year ago . . . Rookie Jae CROWDER profiles as a potentially solid second-unit player, but he'll be buried on this depth chart. CENTERS: CHRIS KAMAN gives Dallas some offensive skill at center, but he's not exactly the defensive presence they've needed. He'll log the bulk of the minutes here, but there are going to be a handful of games where the Mavs have to sit him and go small for defensive purposes . . . 27-year-old rookie BERNARD JAMES could fill Ian Mahinmi's old role of a shot-blocker/fouler off the bench.

Dirk Nowitzki and his Dallas Mavericks teammates pledged earlier this season not to shave until the team returned to the .500 mark.

The Mavericks are close to getting their razors ready and will try to even their record for the first time in 3 1/2 months with Thursday night's visit from a surging Indiana Pacers team that's approaching full health.

With nine wins in the last 12 contests, Dallas is now within one game of .500 for the first time since it was 11-11 on Dec. 12. The Mavericks (35-36) are also making a considerable push for a 13th consecutive playoff berth, now sitting just 1 1/2 games behind the eighth-place Los Angeles Lakers after beginning March five games out of postseason position.

"We've been fighting to get to (.500). I feel like we're playing our basketball. The boys are playing well and better off each other," Nowitzki said. "It's a good time to play your best basketball. We'll see how far we can take it.

"I'm ready to get this (beard) off. It's a big outing for us Thursday against a very tough team. That'll be a big game for us."

Beating Indiana would give the Mavericks their longest home winning streak of the season at four. Dallas improved to 3-1 on its six-game homestand Tuesday with a 109-102 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Nowitzki had eight of his season-high 33 points in the extra period, and was among six Dallas players to score in double figures.

"We've got to find a way to win those close games. We've been doing a lot better the last two weeks or so," Nowitzki said. "We've found a decent mixture the last couple of weeks of leadership and playing well together. Hopefully, we can keep it up."

The Pacers (45-27) haven't had David West for the last six games due to a sprained lower back, but they earned their fifth win in that stretch Wednesday, 100-91 in Houston, behind Roy Hibbert's season-high 28 points and 13 rebounds.

"This was Roy Hibbert's best overall game," coach Frank Vogel said. "And with David West out, we needed him to score more and be more of a post presence and he was terrific on the offensive end as well."

Hibbert may not have to do nearly as much Thursday. West is expected to return against the Mavericks as is Danny Granger, who has missed all but five games this season but should be available to come off the bench down the stretch.

West had 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Paul George scored 30 in the most recent visit to Dallas, a 98-87 win on Feb. 3, 2012. The victory snapped the Pacers' seven-game skid at the American Airlines Center.

Nowitzki had 30 points in the loss and is averaging 27.4 over his last 14 matchups with Indiana, his best performance against any opponent since the beginning of the 2004-05 season. He didn't played in the Pacers' 103-83 win on Nov. 16 in Indianapolis.

Lance Stephenson was one of six Pacers in double figures in that contest, finishing with 12, and he had a season-high 21 points Wednesday after missing a game with a strained hip flexor.

The win in Houston kept Indiana five games ahead of Chicago in the Central Division and tied with New York for the second seed in the Eastern Conference.